Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will resign from Congress “effective immediately” after being nominated to serve as attorney general by President-elect Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced on Wednesday.
The news came hours after Trump sent shockwaves throughout Washington with his pick of Gaetz — a staunch ally of the president-elect — for attorney general. Gaetz still faces Senate confirmation.
Johnson postulated that the Florida Republican decided to leave the House early to speed up the process to replace him, with hopes that his successor can be decided by the time the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.
“I think, out of deference to us, he issued his resignation letter effective immediately, of Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit, but I asked him what the reasoning was and he said, well, you can’t have too many absences, so under Florida state law there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill a vacant seat. And so by doing so today that allows me, I’ve already placed a call to Gov. DeSantis in Florida and said let’s start the clock,” Johnson said.
DEVELOPING.
